Welcome to my Saturday mornings at Nordstrom. Every Saturday at 9:35 a.m., all the associates in the store meet downstairs for our weekly service rally.
So, what is a service rally?
At our service rallies, a different department manager each week leads and talks to us about our customer service in a couple of different ways. Whether it is refreshing our minds with our customer service standards or introducing new methods for better service, there is always some sort of presentation or activity for us to engage in.
This particular week, our Service Experience Department Manager (who also happens to be one of my interviewees) led us in a Family Feud-inspired activity. Two teams were created with a combination of associates from different departments (men’s apparel, shoes, beauty, accessories, and women’s apparel) and participated in the Face-Off, where one member of each team comes to the front to buzz in an answer to the survey question.
Our survey question was “What Does Great Service Look Like?”
Employees from all different departments with different service standards coming together to list their ideas of great customer service? Sounds like the perfect rally to listen in on for my research and let’s just say I had a front-row seat to it all.
Did I say front-row seat? I mean I was on stage. Yes, that is me up there writing all the answers said by the two teams, so more of a supporting cast role. Aside from my cameo, the rally brought up some really interesting points about customer service and what great service really looks like. Below is the completed whiteboard with the final answers and a picture explaining what the Nordstrom 5-Point Selling Standard is for more context
With all of the points above being great examples of customer service provided at Nordstrom, the ones that stood out to me are actually the ones not about interactions with customers. For example, our employee parking is not a specific lot designated for employees only. Instead, we are required to park in the lanes farthest away from the entrances so customers can get the closest and best parking spots. Having no phones on the sales floor or staying tidy and organized doesn’t have a direct relation to servicing the customer, but certainly affects the experience the customer has at the store. This brings to light that customer service is not just the representative behind the help desk. There are so many aspects behind the scenes that correlate to the service customers receive and those require just as much attention as the service on the front lines.
